Mark Anthony Delaney (born 13 May 1976) is a Welsh former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He played for Carmarthen Town, Cardiff City and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He is also a former member of the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

, gaining 36 caps during his career. In doing so, he became the first player to progress from the

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

to the senior national side.

Early life

Delaney was raised in

Goodwick Goodwick (; cy, Wdig) is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, immediately west of its twin town of Fishguard. Fishguard and Goodwick form a community that wraps around Fishguard Bay. As well as the two towns, it consists of Dyffryn, Stop-and ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

by his parents Mike and Angelina. He is of Italian descent, with his maternal grandparents having moved to Wales after World War II. He attended

Ysgol Bro Gwaun Ysgol Bro Gwaun (formerly Fishguard County Secondary School) is a secondary comprehensive school in the town of Fishguard in north Pembrokeshire. It is a predominantly English-medium school with significant use of Welsh, and has a catchment area ...

(located in

Fishguard Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two pa ...

). He is a fluent Welsh speaker.

Club career

As a youngster, Delaney played in the youth system at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

but was released after he was deemed too small. After playing for local amateur side Goodwick United, Delaney joined

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

side Carmarthen Town in 1996, later becoming club captain at 20 years of age. He was spotted by Cardiff City manager

Frank Burrows Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender. Life and career Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965 he moved south to ...

and joined the club on 1 June 1998 on a free transfer. He made 40 appearances in all competitions for Cardiff, scoring once in the FA Cup against Chester City on 14 November 1998, between his purchase and his sale to Aston Villa eight months later on 9 March 1999 for £500,000. Delaney had been travelling to an away match with Cardiff against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

when he was informed of the transfer by manager

on their arrival.

Aston Villa

The day after his transfer was completed, Delaney's father drove him to Birmingham and he travelled with the first-team for their match against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. One month later, Delaney was handed his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut by manager John Gregory, replacing Steve Stone in the final ten minutes of a 3–1 victory over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 24 April 1999. He made just one further appearance for the club during the final matches of the 1998–99 season, during a 1–0 defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. After a full pre-season with Villa, Gregory promoted Delaney to first choice right-back ahead of

Steve Watson Steven Craig Watson (born 1 April 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player. He was formerly the manager of club Chester. As a player, he was a right-back or midfielder. He played in the Premier League and Football ...

at the start of the following season. Delaney credits Gregory with improving his performances during his early career with Villa, Gregory singling out Delaney during his seventh appearance for the side, describing him as "playing like a tart" during the half-time team talk. Delaney went on to score the only goal of the game in the second half of the match as his side defeated

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

1–0. During his first season at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

, the club finished in sixth place in the league, reached the semi-final of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and the final of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, Delaney playing the full match as Villa lost 1–0 to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He made 193 first appearances for Aston Villa in all competitions, with two goals coming against

on 24 August 1999 and Everton on 26 December 2005. He has also gained 36

international caps In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

with the Wales national team. Delaney's Aston Villa career was tempered with knee injuries, which he attributes to his willingness to fly into tackles as a youngster hoping to impress. Delaney travelled to see noted American knee specialist

Richard Steadman Dr. J. Richard Steadman (June 4, 1937 – January 20, 2023) was a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and founder of The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) located in Vail, Colorado. Dr. Steadman revolutionized orthopaedic ...

in an attempt to end the injuries, but was informed by the surgeon that it was unlikely that Delaney would return to playing football following extensive surgery. Delaney was out of contract at Aston Villa in summer 2007 and was hoping to impress

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

enough to win a new contract. However, on 15 August 2007, he announced his retirement from football due to the above injury problems.

Coaching career

On 5 September 2007, Delaney stated he is hoping to go into coaching, and in 2008, Delaney re-joined Aston Villa as a youth coach. In 2015, Delaney was named head coach of the Aston Villa F.C. Under-23s squad. On 8 January 2021, Aston Villa were forced to name a squad full of academy players for an

third round tie against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

due to a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

outbreak at Villa's

Bodymoor Heath Training Ground Bodymoor Heath Training Ground is Aston Villa Football Club's training ground, located at Bodymoor Heath in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. The site was purchased from a farmer by then Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis ...

. First team coach

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

was unable to attend as he had to self-isolate, so Delaney acted as first team coach for that game. Aston Villa lost the game 4–1, but were praised for the performance of their young, inexperienced side. On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Delaney had left Aston Villa, after 14 years at the club in various coaching roles.

Career statistics

Honours

;Aston Villa *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1998–99 Third Division

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Mark 1976 births Living people Welsh people of Irish descent Welsh footballers Association football fullbacks Carmarthen Town A.F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Cymru Premier players English Football League players Premier League players Wales international footballers Sportspeople from Haverfordwest Welsh people of Italian descent FA Cup Final players Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches